Across wide swaths of Wisconsin, black bears and gray wolves have long played an important and prominent role in the food chain. But human activities can threaten populations of these wild animals, especially when they are considered a threat to agriculture.

Waukesha's agreement with Milwaukee reflects the challenges that southeastern Wisconsin, the state's most populous region, will face in supplying its population with clean drinking water over coming decades.

When it comes to jobs in Wisconsin, there are unique differences between the urban communities of Milwaukee and Madison, with their legacy-industry manufacturing and government-education tandem, respectively, compared to agriculture-, manufacturing- and tourism-intensive rural counties.

The opioid crisis has encroached on arguably all levels of society across the United States, the federal government officially deemed it a public health emergency. An estimated 91 people die every day from an opioid overdose.

The plant life of Wisconsin does not lend itself to tidy categorization. The state is a place where multiple regions of North American flora converge, and where climate and human activity continue to reshape the landscape.